Ben Kyle's "Minneapolis"

Better known as the fedora-wearing, guitar-strumming lead singer of the popular local alt-country band Romantica, Ben Kyle releases his first solo album on Nov. 13. Listen to his song &quot;Minneapolis.&quot;

Ben Kyle's "Minneapolis"

Better known as the fedora-wearing, guitar-strumming lead singer of the popular local alt-country band Romantica, Ben Kyle releases his first solo album on Nov. 13. “I just got a text from Dan Wilson saying he liked it, so that’s something,” says Kyle. One song sure to raise eyebrows is “Minneapolis,” perhaps the most unabashedly romantic love ode to the city ever penned. Sample line: “Oh Minneapolis, I saw you and St. Paul kiss / Beneath the moonlight in a Mississippi mist / Never saw a thing as beautiful as this.” And he means every word of it. “That song came as I was driving through the city one night and was overcome by the magic of the city at night. It was one of those songs that, like Neil Young says, just ‘drops out of the sky.’ The songs don’t come that way very often, but this one did.” Kyle will also be playing a CD release party with his Romantica bandmates (most of whom play on the album) at the Ritz Theater on Nov. 24. benkyle.com

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Contributing editor Tad Simons is an award-winning journalist whose writing on the local arts scene has appeared in the Twin Cities Reader, City Pages, St. Paul Pioneer Press, American Theatre magazine, BackStage, Variety and the Washington...